Sunday, May 29, 2016

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Second Sunday after
Pentecost (C—Proper 4)

May 29, 2016

Text: Luke 7:1-10

It
must be a high honor to have the Lord Jesus Christ marvel at your faith. I wouldn’t know. But this is an indication that there is
something to learn here from the centurion.
Jesus says of him, “I tell you,
not even in Israel,” not even among the Jews, not even within the visible
Church and that nation of God’s own people, “have I found such faith” (Luke 7:9; ESV). This man is a foreigner, a Gentile, and even
worse, he works for the government. What
is it about his faith that causes Jesus to marvel? More often than not, we probably interpret
the text this way: What makes the centurion’s faith great is that he knows
Jesus doesn’t even have to be present to heal.
“Just speak the Word, Lord, and my servant will be healed.” That is certainly true, and that is part of
it. The centurion does not regard Jesus
simply as a magician or miracle worker or great healer. There is an implicit confession here that
Jesus is God, or at least that He can harness the power of God, that He carries
the authority of God. Just say the Word,
give the order, and the sickness will obey.
In this the centurion has us beat.
We think it would be better to see
Jesus. If we could just see a
miracle. If we could just talk to Him
face to face. Then we could know that He will rescue us. The centurion believes without seeing, which
is more blessed. But there is even more
to his faith than this. The Jews who
come to Jesus on the centurion’s behalf plead for him on the basis of his worthiness: “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and
he is the one who built us our synagogue” (vv. 4-5). “He’s a good guy, Jesus. He does good things. He deserves this.” That is the basis of the Jews’ faith: The
goodness of the person, based upon the good things he does. But that is not the centurion’s faith. The centurion’s faith confesses this: I am not worthy. “Lord,
do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof…
But say the Word, and let my servant be healed” (vv. 6-7). By faith, the centurion recognizes that he
has no worthiness, no righteousness, no goodness to plead before Jesus. But he believes in Jesus’ goodness. He believes
in Jesus’ willingness and ability to help.
And he confesses the power and authority of Jesus’ Word: “But say the word, and let my servant be
healed.”

We
learn what faith is from the centurion.
Faith is simply trust in Jesus to save.
Whatever the circumstances, whatever the affliction, whatever your
background, whatever your sin. Faith
does not look to the self and your own worthiness, righteousness, or
goodness. Faith recognizes that you have
no such thing before God, and so faith confesses your sins to God and clings to
the Holy Absolution pronounced in the stead and by the command of Jesus. That is to say, faith clings to the goodness
of Jesus, who saves you in spite of you, forgives you in spite of you, loves
you in spite of you, heals you in spite of you.
He does it because of Himself.
And He does it by His Word. “Just
say the Word and let your servant be healed, dear Jesus.” And He does: “I forgive you all your sins, in
the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit.” Now, it is very important to recognize here
that since this is true, that faith is not based on your worthiness, then it
cannot in any way be your work. Faith does not come from you. It comes from God, as a free gift. Faith is not something you drum up within
yourself, deep down in your heart (oh, it’s scary deep down there!). It comes from outside of you, from God, from
the Holy Spirit, who bestows it on you in Baptism and preaching and the
Sacrament of the Altar. Faith is not
intellectual knowledge or understanding, nor is it the ability to confess,
though it certainly seeks these things and grows into them by the gracious work
of the Holy Spirit. And so we baptize
little babies, and we believe that they believe, because faith is the gift that
God bestows on them. Just as baby believes
in Mom, trusts Mom, looks to Mom for every good thing, even though baby doesn’t
know the name “Mom” or have any ability to confess her goodness. Mom is pure gift to baby. And so is Jesus. Faith simply trusts. Faith simply receives.

So
faith is not about some quality in you.
Faith is all about Jesus. Luther
often used faith and Jesus synonymously, because if you have faith, you have
Jesus, and if you have Jesus, you have faith.
Faith is all about the death and resurrection of Jesus for your forgiveness,
life, and salvation. Faith always looks
to Jesus and His righteousness and life bestowed upon you freely. Whenever you’re looking at yourself, that
isn’t faith. That’s navel gazing. That is being curved in on the self, incurvatus in se is the theological Latin. And it’s the very definition of sin, to no
longer be looking to God, but looking at the self. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, who, after
sinning, looked down upon themselves, and for the first time found that they
were naked, exposed, and ashamed.

Well,
needless to say, the devil has a lot of fun with this, always at our
expense. And it goes something like
this: Being the good Lutheran that you are, you know that you’re saved by faith
alone. Faith alone, faith alone, faith
alone, you’re always quoting the old Lutheran slogan, and I’m glad, because
that means I’m doing my job as a pastor.
But there is a danger here, and the devil knows it well. “What if you died tonight? How do you know you are saved?” the devil
asks you. He’s very good at the old
Kennedy Method of Evangelism. And, of
course, the old slogan rings in your ears, “Sola
fide! Faith alone!” And so you answer, “I know that I am saved
because I believe. I have faith.” It sounds like the right answer to your
Lutheran ears, doesn’t it? And I know
what you mean, and so does every Lutheran in the building, and frankly, so does
the devil, but that doesn’t stop him.
“Ah, yes, faith alone!” he says.
“You have faith. Or do you? Are you sure?
Do you have the right kind of
faith? Do you have enough faith? Is your faith strong enough? Because I have to tell you (I hate to bring
it up), but I know what you’ve done, and I know who you are, and I know those
deep, dark, dirty secrets you keep buried within you, the ones you never tell
anyone, the ones you pretend not to remember, pretend God doesn’t know
about. Yes, those. You see, that doesn’t look like faith to me. Christians
don’t do those kinds of things, or
think those kinds of thoughts. Maybe you’re not so full of faith, after
all. Maybe you’re not really saved.”

Oh,
he’s a tricky devil, isn’t he? But he’s
right, in this sense: If you’re looking at yourself, you aren’t going to see a
Christian. You aren’t going to see
faith. If you do, you’re a Pharisee. Repent.
But if you don’t, do not despair.
Confess with the centurion.
“Lord, I am not worthy. I am
anything but worthy. I am not worthy to have you come under my
roof. I am not worthy to have you hear
my prayers or answer them. I am not
worthy to have you love me or save me or heal me or heal those I love. I do not come to you on the basis of my worthiness. I am not
worthy. But You are. And You
promised. Say the Word, Lord. Say the Word that delivers Your sin-atoning
death and life-giving resurrection. Say
the Word that forgives my sins and washes me with Your Blood. Say the Word that bathes me and breathes life
into me and feeds me with the fruits of Your cross. Say the Word.
For you are God, the only-begotten Son of the Father, and You have all
His authority. You say into the darkness,
‘Let there be light’ (Gen. 1:3), and
there is light. You say the centurion’s
servant is healed, and so he is. You
tell Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and so he does, alive and well (John 11). And so You say to me, ‘You are forgiven,’ and
I am. You say of bread and wine, ‘This
is my Body, this is My Blood,’ and so it is, and with it You feed me and heal
me, take possession of me and save me.
So just say the Word. I am not
worthy. But You do all things well.”

Faith
looks not upon itself. Faith looks
always and only to Jesus. You can have
faith without ever hearing the word, “faith.”
Baptized babies are a case in point.
When faith looks upon itself it is always uncertain. The devil knows that and he will exploit it. But when faith is synonymous with Jesus, it
cannot be shaken. Beloved, rest in the
sure things that are outside of you, the things of Jesus Christ. How do you know you are saved? Not because you believe, but because Jesus
died for you, and Jesus is risen from the dead, and because He promised, and He
cannot lie. You know you are saved
because of Jesus. You know you are saved
because you are baptized into Christ.
You know you are saved because Jesus says so in His Word. You know you are saved because Jesus puts
Himself into you in the Supper of His Body and Blood. He becomes one with you, and you are one with
Him. You are not worthy, but Jesus
is. And He has the authority. Jesus has spoken. He has said the Word. And it is so.
You are saved. In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity (C)

May 22, 2016

Text: John 8:48-59

“Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the
undivided Unity. Let us give glory to
him because he has shown his mercy to us” (Liturgical Text from the
Introit). The Feast of Holy Trinity is
different from other feasts and festivals in that it commemorates a doctrine
rather than a particular event or person.
This morning we highlight our confession of the two great dogmas of the
Church catholic (small c, not Roman, although Rome also confesses these). “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all,
hold the catholic faith… And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one
God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity” (Athanasian Creed, LSB 319). In other words, there is one God, and He is
Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
That is the first great dogma of the catholic faith. And this is beyond our comprehension. There is no mathematical equation that can
explain it. Every illustration falls far
short and will eventually land you in heresy, denial of the catholic
faith. If you think you understand the
Trinity, you are in error. This is not
an article of faith to be understood, but to be believed. “Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must
think thus about the Trinity. But it is
also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the
incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (LSB 320). In other words, there is one Lord Jesus
Christ, who is God from all eternity, the only-begotten Son of the Father, the
Second Person of the Holy Trinity; but also man, who in time was conceived by
the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, from whom He received our human
flesh and was born under the Law, fulfilled it for us, was crucified, suffered,
died, and was buried, rose from the dead on the Third Day, ascended into
heaven, and is even now seated in His
human flesh at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, ruling all things
in heaven and on earth, and that He has done all of this for us men and for our
salvation. That is the second great
dogma of the catholic faith. We confess
these two great dogmas in the Athanasian Creed this morning, as we do also in a
simpler way in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds and the Confessions of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church. This is
what it means to be a Christian. We
believe these articles. There are many
sects that claim to be Christian, but do not believe these two great dogmas,
the Trinity and the Incarnation of our Lord, that have been believed and
confessed by the holy Christian Church in every time and every place. That is what the word “catholic” means,
“according to the whole,” the whole doctrine believed and confessed by the whole
Church. If a Church does not confess
this, it is not a Christian Church, whatever else it may be.

And
so, the Feast of the Holy Trinity makes us uncomfortable, doesn’t it? It’s not just the length of the Creed, and
the length of the Service. It’s the
exclusivity of the confession that this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, is the true God. And it’s the
confession of these very technical and precise points of doctrine. We don’t like it. It’s too theoretical. And it is, by definition,
incomprehensible. It gives us a headache. We like things we can grasp. And when we can’t grasp a thing, when we
don’t have command over it, or when we have trouble directly applying it to
some concrete circumstance in our lives, we dismiss it as irrelevant. Which is simply to say, we’re totally
self-obsessed. We’re in love with
ourselves. We think it’s all about us…
or to be exact, it’s all about me. We
like the sermon to be about us. We want
something we can take into our life to improve our marriage or our job or even
cure our depression. That’s what makes a
sermon relevant, we think. But when a
preacher comes along with all this high-fallutin’ talk of Trinity in Unity and
Unity in Trinity, we’re not quite sure where to hang it in our
self-construction, and frankly, what does it even mean, anyway? And so we do what self-obsessed human beings,
particularly 21st Century Americans, always do with things we don’t
understand. We dismiss it as irrelevant
to us. And do you see what you did,
there? You dismissed God as He reveals Himself in Holy
Scripture, as He reveals Himself in the flesh of Christ, as irrelevant. Is this Sunday a tough one for you? Get over it.
Get over yourself. Repent.

Holy
Trinity Sunday takes us out of ourselves and our self-absorption and gives us
to ponder the ineffable mystery of the nature of God. This is not something to be comprehended or
understood. That would be to put God in
a box of our own making. This truth is
something to behold in wonder. This is a
reality in which to bask and delight and simply praise. You are not God, and neither am I. It’s okay that we don’t understand
everything. We live by faith. And so, Trinity in Unity and Unity in
Trinity. God in the flesh of a little
Baby born in Bethlehem. God dead on a
cross for you. A man risen from the dead and seated at the
right hand of God the Father, whom we worship as God. How can these things be? It is not for us to know the how, but simply to knowas reality, because
our gracious God has revealed it.
Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to Him because He has shown
mercy to us.

And
in reality, this is finally all about
you. Because God has made Himself all about you. He shows mercy to us. He does not remain a stranger, a great Other,
infinitely separate from His creation.
Instead, He reveals Himself as our
God, our Father who created us and sent His Son to be one with us, to
redeem us and make us His own, a Father who loves to hear and answer our
prayers, and who preserves us by His Spirit in His Word. He reveals Himself in the flesh of His Son,
Jesus, who was crucified for our forgiveness and is risen from the dead for our
justification, in whom we have salvation and eternal life in heaven, who will
raise us from the dead on the Last Day.
He reveals Himself in the sending of the Spirit who gushes out of Jesus’
wounds, proceeds from the Father and the Son, who teaches us and reminds us of
all things that our Lord has taught us, who points us ever and always to Jesus
and keeps us in the one true faith unto life everlasting. There is nothing more relevant than our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He wrote
His Name on you in Baptism, made you His own child, washed away all your
sins. He declares you forgiven in
Absolution as He traces His Name on you again, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. He speaks Himself into your ears
in Scripture and preaching, and He feeds you with all His fullness in the Body
and Blood of Jesus. How could there be
anything more relevant than that? It’s a
matter of eternal life and death. If you
have this God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you have eternal life. If you don’t have Him, you die for all
eternity in hell. So I guess it’s okay
that we spend a few extra minutes on the Creed today.

The
point is not that you understand it, but that you believe it. Abraham believed God, and his faith was
credited to him as righteousness.
Abraham longed to see the day of his Descendant, Jesus. He saw it and was glad (John 8:56). Faith is not the same thing as understanding,
though, to be sure, it always seeks to understand more and more. Faith is simply trust, trust that God is who
He says He is and does what He says He does, that He saves us, as He has
promised. And that is what He does in
Christ. And if you know God in Christ,
you know God. If you know God in Christ,
you know Him as your Father. If you know
God in Christ, the Spirit of God is in you.
If you know God in Christ, you have eternal life. The Jews in our Holy Gospel were blood
descendants of Abraham, and they prided themselves on their knowledge of
God. In fact, they thought they had Him
pegged, they thought they understood Him.
But Jesus says to them, “you have
not known him” (v. 55; ESV). Because
you cannot know God apart from Christ.
If you know Christ, you know the Father.
If you do not have Christ, you do not have the Father. Jesus reveals the Father as your God who
loves you and is for you. The Spirit
proceeds from the Father and the Son, and the Spirit always points us to the
Son, by whom we have access to the Father who loves us in His Son.

At
this point you may wish you had an aspirin.
But you’re thinking too hard.
Just look at Jesus. Just look at
the Son of God crucified. Jesus is all
you need to know. That is why God gives
pastors. To point you to Jesus. To proclaim Christ crucified and distribute
Him to you in the Supper. That is why we
have a vicar this Summer. This is really
a good day to install Vicar Gaschler. He
is here to learn and to teach us. He is
here to proclaim the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is here to proclaim Christ crucified in
every word he speaks and everything he does.
Pastors are servants of the Word.
The Word is the vehicle of the Spirit, who gives us Jesus, who gives us
the Father. Jesus says, “if anyone keeps my word, he will never see
death” (v. 51). To keep the Word means not only to obey it,
but to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it, to believe it, to treasure
it, to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it. Because the Word gives you everything you
need. And everything you need is
Jesus.

So…
heady stuff this morning. But all good
stuff. The Trinity in Unity and Unity in
Trinity. One God, Three Persons, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. One Jesus, Two
Natures, Divine and Human. God in the
flesh, crucified for our sins and raised for our justification. This is the holy catholic faith. This is what the Word gives us. And so we believe, and so we are saved. “Blessed
be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity.
Let us give glory to him because he has shown his mercy to us.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

The Day of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost
(C)

The Confirmation of
John Harmsen and Caleb Wiese

May 15, 2016

Text: Acts 2:1-21; John 14:23-31

The
Feast of Pentecost: 50 days after Easter Sunday, 50 days after the resurrection
of our Lord, 10 days after the ascension of our Lord into heaven to sit at the
right hand of God the Father Almighty and rule all things according to His will
and for our good. Jesus promised this
day would come. He told His disciples to
wait in Jerusalem for the Promise of His Father, the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit, which would take place mere days after our Lord’s ascension (Acts
1:4-5). Pentecost is the fulfillment of
this Promise. All the disciples were
gathered together in one place, when suddenly there was the sound of a mighty,
rushing wind (the word for “wind,” incidentally, also means spirit and breath
in Greek), and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues as of fire rested upon each
one of them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began to preach. In fact, they began to preach in languages
previously unknown to them (that is the gift of tongues… not gibberish no one
can understand, but known human languages previously unknown to the speaker). They began to preach to all who were present
that Christ Jesus is risen from the dead.
He died to make atonement for our sins.
And now He lives. And He
reigns. And He has sent His Spirit upon
His disciples, to make of them one Body of Christ, one holy, Christian, and
apostolic Church. Originally the Feast
of Pentecost was an Old Testament Feast, one of the three great feasts in which
every Jewish male was required to appear at the Temple in Jerusalem. Sometimes called the Feast of Weeks,
Pentecost was a harvest festival celebrated 50 days (Pentecost=50) after the
Passover. The Jews would bring the first
and best of their sheaves to wave before the LORD, acknowledging that He gives
seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
He gives us each day our daily bread.
He is the Giver of every good gift.
Pentecost was a Feast of Thanksgiving.

It
was also traditionally celebrated as the Day on which God gave the Ten
Commandments to Moses. For man does not
live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God
(Matt. 4:4). And whether this is, in
fact, the day God gave the Ten Commandments, note the relationship between
harvest (bread) and the Word. Just as
God gives a harvest of wheat to sustain our body, so He gives a harvest of His
Word to sustain our spirit. And note how
this is fulfilled in an even greater way in the New Testament. God pours His Holy Spirit on His Church and
fills the hearts of the faithful, kindling in them the fire of His love. And they preach. The Spirit comes through the Word. He feeds us on the Word. He attaches Himself to nothing less than the
Word of our Father. And by that Word He
points us ever and always to the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the work of the Holy Spirit, to bring
us to Jesus, to give us Jesus, to make the death and resurrection of Jesus our
death and eternal life.

That
is what Jesus says in our Holy Gospel: “the
Helper,” the Paraclete, the Comforter or Advocate, literally “the One
called to your side” in the day of trouble… “the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he
will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to
you” (John 14:26; ESV). In other
words, the Holy Spirit puts you in Jesus and keeps you in Jesus by the teaching
you and reminding you. He keeps you in
the Word. This is what we mean when we
confess in the Small Catechism, “I
believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my
Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel,
enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”[1] Note very carefully, you cannot choose to
believe in Jesus. Faith is the work of
the Holy Spirit. And He does this work
in such a way that you can always know it is Him and not some rogue evil
spirit. The Holy Spirit attaches Himself
to particular means. We call them the means of grace. They are the Words of God recorded in Holy
Scripture and preached. They are the
Words of God attached to water in the cleansing bath of Holy Baptism, attached
to the Office of the Ministry in Holy Absolution, attached to bread and wine in
Holy Communion, which by that Word is the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. There, in the divinely appointed
means, where the Word is, you can always find the Holy Spirit doing His
thing. You know exactly where to find
Him. You can always find God for you, in
the Word. He has tied Himself there for
you. The Word, the Word, the Word. Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word. By the Word our Lord is by our side, upon the
plain, with His good gifts and Spirit.
Spirit, wind, and breath: All the same word in Greek. The Spirit no longer comes in a mighty,
rushing wind, but in the breath of preaching.
By the Word, He breathes Himself into you, O Adam, O man of dust. He breathes into you the breath of life. He spirits into you the Spirit of life.

That
is what we celebrate today in the lives of our confirmands. The Spirit breathed eternal life into Caleb
and John by breathing Himself into them at their Baptism. Born anew in that moment, they became sons of
God, believers in Jesus Christ. And just
as when you are born and take your first breath, you continue to breathe for
the rest of your life, so it is with the new birth in the Spirit. You take your first breath at Baptism, but
the Spirit continues to breathe Himself into you by His Word proclaimed and
read and ingested in the Supper of Jesus’ Body and Blood. You cannot live without breath. You cannot live without God’s Word. And there is a danger here. It is difficult to stop breathing air, though
you can do it. You can suffocate
yourself, and of course, we all stop breathing at some point, and that is an
indication that death has occurred. But
it is very easy to stop breathing God’s Word.
“I don’t have time to go to Church today. I’ll get there next week. Or the week after that. I have important things to do today, and
there is no other time I could possibly do them. And why should I attend Bible study? It’s always the same old thing. I’ve heard it all before. I know it by now.” Now, we all know instinctually that we don’t
have the luxury of putting off breathing until some more convenient time. We do it constantly, habitually, even
unconsciously, because if we stop, we’ll die.
And it’s the same thing, over and over and over. We’ve done it before. But we do it again. Breath after breath. 12-20 times per minute on average. Somehow we never get bored of it. We panic when we have trouble with it. Do you get the point? Repent.
And get to Church. Every
week. Breathe deeply of the Word.

The
Spirit attaches Himself to the Word. By
the Word, the Spirit breathes Himself into us, giving us saving faith in
Jesus. By the Word, God declares our
sins forgiven for the sake of Jesus. By
the Word, God declares us His own beloved children. And we live by the Word. It is our breath. It is our life. Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word. Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). To keep the Word of Jesus means more than
simply to obey it. It means to hear it,
read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it.
It means to be devoted to it, to love it and cherish it and like St.
Mary, to treasure it up in your heart.
Like a love letter from your beloved that you treasure up and read again
and again, that you ponder and savor and learn by heart. When you love Jesus, that is what His Word is
to you. Which brings us back to
Confirmation. John and Caleb are about
to promise to keep God’s Word faithfully, to love it and cherish it, to hear it
faithfully and receive it in their mouths in the Supper. They are going to promise to die for it, if
necessary. This is pretty heady stuff we
ask these sixth graders to promise, to solemnly swear before God and this
congregation. They will face all the
same temptations the rest of us do: To sleep in on Sunday, to get to God’s Word
another time, another place, but not now.
And they will sometimes give in to their lazy flesh. They will often fail. Just like you. Just like me.
But that is why God sends the Paraclete, the Spirit, to call John and
Caleb and you and me back to His Word, to breathe anew into us the breath of
life, the breath of faith, to teach us and remind us of all the things Jesus
has said to us. We can only make John
and Caleb promise these things because we know it is the Spirit who will keep
them. And He will keep you. It is His work, by grace. Just breathe.
Just receive. Just live in the
Spirit-wrought life bestowed upon you freely in Jesus Christ.

And
what is the result? “Peace I leave with you,” says Jesus; “my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let
them be afraid” (v. 27). In this
world there is much to be troubled about.
But in Jesus you have peace.
Because it all works out for the good in Him. Just take a deep breath. Breathe in the Word and be at peace in
Jesus. That is what the Spirit works in
you. Faith. You know how this ends. So you have peace. Because you have Jesus. You have His Word. You have His Spirit. You have His life. His Father is your Father. Peace, beloved. Peace.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. “And
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7).
Amen.

Sunday, May 08, 2016

Seventh Sunday of Easter

Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)

May 8, 2016

Text: Rev. 22:1-20

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

This morning St. John describes for us the Holy City of
God, New Jerusalem, as she is manifest in her fullness on the Last Day. And though it may not be your first thought
after reading this description, upon closer examination, she looks remarkably
like our Church. After all, this
heavenly reality sets the pattern for the Tabernacle and the Temple in the Old
Testament, and so also traditional Church architecture in the New. It
matters how we build our Church buildings.
The design, the pattern, says something
about God and about His relationship to His people as it has been restored in
Christ. It says something about the heavenly reality, the furnishings, the
artwork, the way things are set up. This
is not to say that there is only one right way to do it, or that Church
buildings should be uniform, or some such nonsense. This is not a denial of Christian
freedom. Nor is it to say that the building makes the Church. We know from Holy Scripture that the Church
is the people of God, holy believers in Christ, gathered around Christ’s gifts
in Word and Sacrament. We can do that
without a building. But when we are
blessed with a building, as we are here in this place, we want the building
itself to preach. And so, compare the pattern here with the
Holy City described in our reading from Revelation. The River of the Water of Life (Rev. 22:1)
bubbles up in the Font, cleansing us from our sins. The Font is front and center, for there we
are given new birth by water and the Spirit.
There God’s Name is written on our foreheads, “Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. And from there our sins are
forgiven in Absolution. And there is the
Throne of God up there in the center of the chancel. Really… God sits upon the Altar with His Body
and Blood, week after week, feeding us Himself for our forgiveness, life, and
salvation. That is why we bow toward the
Altar. It is the Throne. It is the Mercy Seat. The chancel is the Holy of Holies, where the
Ark of the Covenant was housed as God’s Throne in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the curtain is removed,
represented by the rail which is open to you, and we have access to God’s Throne
where He meets us in the flesh under bread and wine. And the water of the Font flows from the Throne,
and we enter the Throne room through the water.
And from the Throne, through the water, we receive the Fruit of the Tree
of Life, the Fruit of the Tree of the Cross, our Lord’s true Body and
Blood. This Fruit is for the healing of
the nations. It is for our healing and
life.

What we see now by faith under these weak and despised
forms, we will see with our own eyes in all its glory in the Holy City on the
Last Day. But for now, we live in the
time of waiting upon the Lord. We have
one foot in both ages: The old age of the fallen world and our fallen flesh,
and the age to come where all is restored and perfected, the new heavens and
the new earth, when Christ comes again.
“Behold, I am coming soon,”
He promises (v. 12; ESV). But for now,
in the meantime, the evildoers still do evil and the filthy are still filthy
(v. 11). That is to say, the unbelievers
who despise the Lord and His Christians have their day. For a little while, they persecute Christ and
His Christians. They sue over bathrooms
and wedding cakes and gag the speech of Christians. They revel in sexual perversion and kill the
babies whose only crime is that they were the unintended consequence of their
parents’ iniquity. This will go on for
now, and it will get worse until the Lord returns. In the meantime, the righteous still do
right, and the holy still be holy (v. 11).
That is to say, the believers still believe and still live in the water
before the Throne and partake of the Fruit from the Tree of Life. And they confess. They speak.
You speak. You call a spade a spade, a sin a sin. You protect your wives and mothers and
daughters from indignity and exploitation.
You guard the holiness of your neighbor’s body from your own lust and
the lust of others. You speak for those
who cannot speak for themselves, the defenseless unborn, the weak and the
terminally ill. And you give generously
and sacrificially to provide for the needs of the poor and the preaching of the
Gospel to the ends of the earth. If
necessary, you die. You kneel on the
beach and with your last breath, as they slit your throat, you cry out to
Jesus, confessing His Name, as our brothers did in Libya last year. You do this because you know what awaits you,
the Holy City, your God and Father, your Savior Jesus Christ, eternal life, and
the resurrection of your body.

Because of this, the Church prays, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (v.
20). We long for His appearing and
deliverance. On that Day He will raise
all the dead. The souls of all people,
believers and unbelievers alike, will be reunited with their bodies. And then He will judge. Those who have not believed in Him, but have
despised His gift of salvation, will be locked outside of the City to suffer
hell, not just in their souls, but in their bodies, for all eternity. “Outside
are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and
idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (v. 15). But we who are in Christ do not fear this
judgment. For our sins have been washed
away. Christ is our righteousness. We are baptized into Christ. “Blessed
are those who wash their robes [Baptism!], so that they have the right to the
tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates” (v. 14). We live for this Day, when we are brought
into the fullness of the joy of our Lord.

And now, what is our calling, our vocation, in the
meantime, as we already possess this gift hidden in Christ but do not yet enjoy
it visibly? Our vocation is to do what
we always do: Repent and believe the Gospel and abide in Christ by His Word and
Baptism and Supper. And we’re given the
glorious privilege of inviting those who do not believe in Jesus to come and be
baptized and join our number and be blessed.
“The Spirit and the Bride say,
‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say,
‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty
come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (v.
17). The Bride is the Church, and
through the preaching of Christ that goes on in the Church, the Spirit calls
even more to come. And you are the ones who
hear the preaching. You are each,
individually, given the privilege to say, “Come.” That is, you are given to confess the faith,
to invite others to Church, to tell them about Jesus and His love. And those who are thirsty are the ones who
know things are not right here and now.
They recognize this is a fallen world.
They recognize that they are sinners in need of redemption. The Law has done its killing work. They need the medicine of the Gospel, the
forgiveness of sins in Jesus. They need
the water of life. They need Baptism and
the Spirit. It is all free. Come and drink. Take without price and without limit. Slake your thirst in the gifts of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.

So we live now by Jesus’ Promise. He is coming soon. To which we reply with hearty Amen. And we wait.
We believe. We pray. We confess.
Most of all, we receive what our Lord here gives us freely, the Fruits
of His Cross. And so we live with our
eyes on the reality that awaits, what St. John has told us: Where the Font
reveals the River of the Water of Life; where the Altar reveals the very Throne
of God; where the Cross reveals the Tree of Life; where the bread and wine
reveal the Fruit that is for the healing of the nations. Partake of the gifts now, beloved, and look
forward to the gifts in their fullness then.
Baptism. Absolution. Preaching.
Supper. These are the things that
connect you with what is to come. And
the Holy City descends to earth here and now where the people of God are
gathered around the things of His Son.
The glorious City awaits us, but you can enjoy it already here. For He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
And because He is risen, He makes all things new. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday, May 01, 2016

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of
Easter (C)

May 1, 2016

Text: Rev. 21:9-14, 21-27; John 16:23-33

He is risen! He
is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

In
the beginning, on Day One, when God created the heavens and the earth, “The earth was without form and void, and
darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:2; ESV). But then God spoke. “Let
there be light,” He said, “and there
was light. And God saw that the light
was good” (vv. 3-4). God speaks and
there is light. Where God’s Word is,
there the darkness is dispelled. Jesus
is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God” (v. 1).
“In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (vv. 4-5). Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, the
Light no darkness can overcome. Jesus
Christ is the Life of the world. He is
the Creative and Almighty Word of God.
He is God. Where Jesus is, the light prevails over the
darkness. Evil is overcome. Sins are forgiven. The prince of darkness is expelled. Death gives way to life.

Our
reading from Revelation is about the final triumph of light over darkness. Now, we know this struggle well. In this world, in this flesh, the darkness
seems to be winning. Children are afraid
of the dark, and truth be told, adults are, too. Why?
Because darkness veils what is unknown.
The darkness blinds us to both good and bad. We cannot see to attain the good. We cannot see to avoid the bad. There is danger in the darkness. And what is true of the physical darkness is
also true of the spiritual darkness.
Spiritual darkness is the stuff of sin, death, and the devil. Because we are fallen creatures who have
stumbled into the darkness, we cannot see to attain the things that are good,
the Commandments of God, the things of light.
Nor can we see to avoid the things that are bad and downright dangerous
and deadly, sin and all its perils. It
does not help that the devil appears to us as an angel of light, that he tricks
us into thinking the good things are bad and the bad things are good, and he
has perfect command over the things of darkness, the demons and the hidden
perils and traps he has laid. And the
things of darkness have a home-field advantage.
They know their own turf. We are
blind, and we know nothing. And so we
need God to speak. And when He does, His
Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105). It exposes all that is not good, every
wickedness and evil. It exposes the
devil and his wicked hoards and drives them away. It exposes our sin to the light of Jesus’
redeeming work, so that all is forgiven.
It exposes death as defeated in the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. And it lights the way through
the valley of the shadow into the radiant Kingdom of our God.

St.
John writes of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, “there will be no night there” (Rev. 21:25). That means the stuff of darkness will be at
an end forever. Right now this is
something we can only know by faith, not by sight, for our eyes see the
darkness all around. But this is the
Promise. No more darkness. Only light.
What will it be like to live in such a place? There will be no danger. No more can death threaten or the devil
rage. There will be no sin. No longer will the darkness find shelter in
your flesh, for you will be full of light, the light of Christ. And everything will reflect the radiance of
the glory of God and of the Lamb. That
is how St. John describes the Holy City, Jerusalem. “Come,
I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb,” says the angel as he
carries John to a great, high mountain (vv. 9-10). We met this Bride last week, and we learned
she is the Church, she is you, washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb and clothed
in the dazzling white of Jesus’ righteousness.
She’s beautiful. John searches
for words to describe Her radiance, but all earthly words fall short. The best he can do is compare Her to a rare
jewel, like a jasper… but not quite like a jasper, either, because She’s clear
as crystal. And so free from the
darkness is She that, as the light of the glory of God shines upon Her, She not
only reflects that light, but the light radiates through Her and from within
Her. Now, St. John describes Her as both
a woman and a city. Hard to comprehend,
I know, but it’s the best he can do with our fallen, earthly language. Notice, the gates (there are twelve of them,
a number that always designates the Church) are guarded by angels (v. 12). Protection.
The City is secure. She is
safe. You are safe. And on the gates are written the names of the
twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. For
this is the New Israel. The Holy Church
is built on the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament, and the believers
who lived before our Lord’s Advent are just as much members of the Bride as the
New Testament believers, and they have a place in this City, a country, a
home. And the wall of the City (again,
security, safety) has twelve foundations, and on them are written the names of
the twelve apostles of the Lamb (v. 14).
St. Paul says something very similar about the Church on earth when he
writes that She is “built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner
stone” (Eph. 2:20). You see, the
Church in heaven and on earth is built upon Her crucified and risen Lord and
the Scriptures He has given through the Apostles (the New Testament) and the
Prophets (the Old Testament). And so New
and Old Testament believers are joined together in one glorious City, one New
Israel, one holy Christian Church of all times and places gathered before God
and the Lamb.

Now,
two things are lacking in this City, but they will not be missed, for their
absence is due to the glorious Promise of God’s personal and intimate presence
with His people. There is no temple. No need.
For the temple is the place of sacrifice, but the sacrifice for our sins
was made once and for all by our Lord Jesus on the cross. And the temple is the place where God
promised to dwell with His people, but now He dwells with them forever, face to
face. God is their Temple. Jesus is their Temple. There is also no external source of
light. The City has no need of sun or
moon to shine on Her, “for the glory of
God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev. 21:23). The source of all light is God Himself, and
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Incidentally,
this explains the light God created in the beginning. There was no sun, moon, or stars until day
four, but there was light in the very beginning, when God spoke. So there is
not such a separation between created light and the light of the Holy City in
our text. The source of all light is
God, and Jesus means what He says when He declares, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). So you should not worship the sun or the
moon, but the Giver of the light. And
whenever the sun rises at dawn or you turn on your lamps at night, this is
cause for doxology, praise of your Creator who gives you light, who redeemed
you and sanctifies you, the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now
we dwell where darkness is still a reality.
But God speaks, and His speaking is the gift by which the Holy Spirit
enlightens us, which is to say, brings us to faith in Christ and keeps us in
it. And though we still live in a dark
world, and though our flesh is still darkness, this light of God’s Word works
the same way it did in the beginning and will in the end. That is to say, as a New Creation in Christ,
bathed in the Light, the Light entering you by your ears and by your mouth and
flowing in your heart and through your veins, you reflect the Light of Christ
and His light radiates from within you.
And so it brings light into the world.
Jesus said to His disciples and He says to you, “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). Jesus,
of course, is the Light of the world, and because you are in Jesus, you are the light of the world. For you bear Jesus. You are in Jesus. Jesus is in you. His light radiates from within you to
enlighten others as you love your neighbor, serve your neighbor, sacrifice for
your neighbor, and speak Christ to your neighbor. Ah, yes, you speak Christ, which is to say, God speaks His Word, and the lights come
on for your neighbor, just as the light burns in you. And it’s all gift from the Creator who speaks, “Let there be light,” and there is light.

And
where there is light, there can be no darkness.
Light is a substance. Darkness is
an absence. Where the light fills a
place, there is no longer an absence but a fullness. And so the stuff of darkness cannot dwell in
the New Jerusalem. “(N)othing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is
detestable or false” (Rev. 21:27), those who love the darkness and shun the
light and do not want the forgiveness and life of Christ. But then there are those who are written in
the Lamb’s Book of Life (v. 27). That’s
you. That is you who see clearly now in
the Light by which the Spirit enlightens you, the Light that is Christ and His
Word. You were blind and groping around
in the darkness. But now you see. By God’s grace, you see that Jesus Christ has
restored you to the Father and made you God’s own child. You see that Jesus is the way to eternal life
and a real home in a real place, the New Jerusalem, a place of safety and
abundance and light. You see that Jesus
died to cast away all darkness. You see
that He is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.